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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24132628">Again and Again</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_well_its_me/pseuds/Oh_well_its_me'>Oh_well_its_me</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Try Again [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternative Universe - Phantom Thief, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Game(s), Roommates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:02:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,388</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24132628</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_well_its_me/pseuds/Oh_well_its_me</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>here's to second chances and endless thievery</p><p>Ouma Month Day 5 Phantom Thief &amp; Day 6 Friendships &amp; Day 7 Truth vs Lie<br/>(second part is for the 7th)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Minor or Background Relationship(s), Momota Kaito &amp; Saihara Shuichi, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Try Again [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1768129</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Kokichi Ouma Month</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It's calm. The view is beautiful. If it was adrenaline that he was chasing he'd jump down, because climbing that rooftop didn't make him feel a thing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No, it was just the beginning of what he had planned for tonight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Plans were a necessity. All he was good at was planning, that's how they wrote him. Yes, Kokichi Ouma, the late star of Danganronpa would go stir crazy without working on some over the top plans.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In this world, though, he didn't have a killing game to defeat or a gang of clowns to spend time with. It was just him, picking up a hobby that this weeb, Shirogane chose for him to have interest in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn't that glorious to be a thief, most of the time he returned the stolen goods, money wasn't what he was after either.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He just needed a game to play.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There's not much fame or fortune could give him as a thief, he already had enough of that as Kokichi. Then again, it wasn't like the phantom thief didn't gain attention. When he was starting he considered calling himself Dice in their memory, but that would be painful and instantly make him suspicious. So he signed calling cards as a Friend. It was a joke on three levels. For one, the tone of the letters or occasional poems was heavily flirtatious, then was the fact that he was a criminal addressing a detective, so technically he should be an enemy and the cherry on the top was that he was asking for Saihara to be the one pursuing him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The first time he made it to magazines was actually with a reputation of a crazy fan trying to get the detective's attention. As if. They were already roommates, he didn't need to do anything drastic for just that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shuichi took the case very reluctantly. Scared of confrontations and not wanting to deal with murder ever again he dedicated his talent to solving cold cases and only because not doing any of that was making him restless. Trying to push his buttons with provocations combined with the pressure from helpless police only resulted in him shutting down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So, as a good friend, Kokichi was there to ease him into the idea of chasing a criminal once again. Well, he hoped they were friends, their relationship was kind of weird. Not exactly healed from the game, but with resurfacing memories of intimacy, stuck together in that little apartament of theirs. He knew Saihara was remembering bits of it too, they didn't have to talk about it, the way they couldn't meet each other's eyes some mornings spoke volumes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It could be considered self-sabotage, but he needed his detective and if his detective needed a support character to fulfill his function then he'd provide.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wasn't it like him to be a double agent anyway? Playing chess with himself is a way to get better at it, so why wouldn't he help Shuichi understand the thief?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And he was happy to see him start enjoying it too. Saihara was very withdrawn after the game was over, if he had a choice he'd change his career altogether. But this case was sparking his love for the mystery back to life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seeing him pour over the codes and hints he prepared with equal amounts of care was somewhat heartwarming.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bringing him coffee and curiously asking what's it this time as if he didn't already know became a part of his routine and he welcomed it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Especially the part when Saihara just realized another innuendo or tease from the thief and tries to hide how it flustered him. He fails and unless Kokichi's feeling merciful he gets a combo of extra tease in person.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When his favorite part is over there's time for actual breaking and entering, which brings him here.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The stealing itself isn't very exciting, with his over-detailed plans it's almost too easy, that's why he always makes sure that Shuichi figures out his hint, so he can get a little excitement out of a chase as a treat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He reads theories sometimes. Fantasies of fans who want it to be him, because they ship it. It's sick, but the whole world is sick and he's a part of it, so whatever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Media treats his phantom thieving as a fun thing to observe, not a threat, which on its own would be fair, because he only steals to show that he can and then returns everything, but the narration took a direction he doesn't like.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Even if, theoretically, the phantom thief was courting the detective he wouldn't want the media to focus on that factor and completely ignore his crimes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lately, when they try to interview Saihara the questions are about the gossip of potential romance and don't talk about it like it's a case at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After the last poem he wrote for him, Shuichi looks at him differently even without the mask on. Maybe he finally figured him out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe it doesn't change anything, because he could turn him in several times before, but didn't. Nobody wants the thief caught. It's a show, the world is watching.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He's confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He probably caused that confusion himself. His relationship with Shuichi would be complicated enough without a double life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe someday they can stop dancing around each other in dramatic fashion and istead dance together at home where's nobody watching.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not tonight, though. Tonight he has a museum to rob.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Saihara is angsting it up in here, so beware spoilers for the whole game and gory descriptions for his emotional pain... if that makes sense, bitch b saying stuff like a feeling is eating at his internal organs</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>There was some sort of limbo he was stuck in. Every time he'd build himself up life would come in crashing waves to bring him down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It continued after ending the killing game. Maybe he should be happy with that ending, everyone alive, the monetary prizes... but the Danganronpa was still thriving and that was enough for him not to be. The desperation of wanting it to be all over got him through the final trial, but after exiting the simulation he was just exhausted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So he was back at the square one, ready to avoid everyone. He'd hide from the world and never have to deal with any of it. Except he couldn't, because when he got to his old self's home he found out he wasn't going to live alone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Out of all people on earth, his roommate was Kokichi Ouma.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the end of the first month he was getting offers from concerned Kaito to crash at his and Maki's place. They settled down around that time. It was nice to see them from time to time, but he wouldn't want to be third wheeling 24/7. Not to mention, as that would be rude, Kaito is a terrible roommate.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He expected Ouma to be even worse, but he's surprisingly neat if not a bit of a hoarder. The junk he collects needs to be decluttered every once in a while, but it never invades Saihara's space. There might be a pile of something on one side of the table, but the other will stay clear for him to use.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's awkward when they're both at home, which is most of the time. A mix of the regrets from the killing game and the very obvious relationship they had before it does that. With two elephants in the room it's hard to fit in some comfort.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He would be handling it just fine if the little hints scattered around the house were everything implying that. Unfortunately he also has to deal with fragments of memories showing in his dreams, when he was first informed that it could happen he thought it would be a good source of information about his past self. He couldn't be more wrong. Wet dreams of Kokichi that's not quite the Kokichi he knows we're all trouble and no help.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eye contact was already hard enough, now it could kill him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It only gets worse when into the mix is added the phantom thief. He thinks it has to be Ouma when he sees him for the first time. But then, he's home and Ouma is helping him out, relaxed, curious about his progress on the case and he doesn't know what to think.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He gets a nightmare in which the four of them are dancing around him and mocking him. The Kokichi his previous self had sex with; the Ouma teasing him during the game; Kokichi as of now, an unlikely friend and finally the thief that's throwing pick up lines at him, one after the other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If the thief turned out to be Kokichi after all it would be easier.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Or maybe it would be worse. It is a criminal. He wouldn't choose him over Kokichi, that's for sure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's just that if Kokichi was the thief it would mean he likes him back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It's embarrassing to admit, but kind gestures like the way his roommate makes sure he doesn't overwork himself and makes him coffee just the way he likes it are exactly the kind of thing that makes him fall in love.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sometimes it's hard to breath with all the unspoken things between them. There's no way to tell how the liar feels, he could never figure out whether he's telling the truth, he knows his face is lying too. He isn't sure if he wants the truth anymore. It might be better to play safe and leave things the way they are.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If he fucks up and makes things more awkward then they are now living together will become impossible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>The choice between the truth and lies was never easy. From the beginning of his character's existence the very one where he stumbled out of a locker he was made to both crave and fear the truth; dislike but need to use lying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kaede's death only made his struggle worse, an old (technically fabricated) wound reopened making his heart bleed again as the truth of the case was forced out of his mouth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After that it was a spiral of trying to keep the promise, failure, feeling guilty over calling out the blackened.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The way his classmates relied on him to reach the truth was reaching for his internal organs and eating him from the inside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As long as he could lean on Kaito he believed that maybe in the end he could be alright, that all the painful confrontations with reality during class trials would pay off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Except, turns out Kaito isn't perfect and his confident facade isn't bulletproof, in fact his fear of the supernatural is enough to throw him off his game. That's just silly and nobody minds so his weird behaviour is excused. Next thing though, it becomes known the astronaut is also insecure and easily gets upset when nobody needs him to be the hero at the moment and his sidekick acts independently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And when hell breaks loose the promise to have Shuichi's back in the trials means nothing, because this isn't the truth Kaito wants to believe, this isn't what anyone wants to hear, but he has a promise to fulfill and he pulls through, something between him and Kaito permanently breaks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So he wonders if truth is really worth all that pain.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looks at the world so dead a part of him dies on sight. He's pretty sure it's not worth it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was this part of the killing game in which time stopped existing and that was the part before Maki came knocking on his door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And after that he thought that confrontation with Kokichi would be this final fight between truth and lies. He was fit to be the final boss defending lies.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the confrontation never came. Kokichi wasn't there. It was such a shocking concept. Kokichi Ouma didn't seem like a mortal. It could be said about few of the people who died before him too. It wasn't the same as them, there was no body, no time to grieve, it was like he disappeared with all his secrets, like he was just being an asshole and hiding somewhere in the academy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was some comfort in knowing that he at least managed to make up with Kaito before those two died. So he let himself mourn his friend. He couldn't think this way about Ouma, it made something in his stomach turn. He couldn't, it was his stubborn pursuit of the truth that ruined his plan, his sacrifice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn't, their little artificial sky fell down on their heads and it didn't even hurt as bad as the truths he had to uncover that night; the same night they got out of that hurtful trial they were dragged into another.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And everything hurt and he didn't want to choose anymore. All he wanted was for it to be over. He wouldn't pick between hope and despair, not fiction and reality and definitely not truth vs lies. It was all pointless. The world isn't black and white the way Kokichi's scarf is.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They're a mix of what's real and what's fictional and they live as the people they were before this, and they live as Danganronpa characters.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everybody lies sometimes, but it would be absolutely pointless if they would never speak the truth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And would there even be despair without hope? Isn't it that when you expect nothing you don't get disappointed? The same rule would apply.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn't know about hope without despair either. Now not only his heart aches, but his head is spinning too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And he still doesn't know what to do with his sorry feelings.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Scaring Kokichi away isn't the only possibility. What if he assumes that Shuichi only wants to be an item because their past selves were? That it's about the sex? God, there's an indent in the wall in the kitchen and they both know what it's from. He can't say that he doesn't ever want to do that again, but not casually at any point.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He just wants to!! cuddle!! and hold hands!! with his roommate! Is that too much to ask?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He's not really good at keeping it a secret, he has to do something quick because the other catches on quickly and must have seen the way Shuichi looks at him and eventually he'll ask about it and Saihara will be damned if he's not ready by then.</span>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Be truthful or lie?</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I don't know if the connection was noticable, but Ouma saying that Saihara is looking at him diffrently and Saihara saying he's not good at hiding his longing stares a secret are describing the same thing, Ouma's assumption that Saihara figured him out was wrong<br/>I'd also like to include a note I wrote right after finishing writing this past 3AM on a private room on my discord server since that's where I keep my drafts from expiring:<br/>"/Ha! Did you expect a confrontation with the thief? Confession? Grand conclusion? No, it's a cliffhanger, because fuck you, suffer with me bitches"</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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